Southwest passengers evacuate smoke-filled plane after smartphone, seat burst into flame

Not what they meant by “burner” phone.

Passengers were forced to evacuate a Southwest Airlines plane after a phone battery caught fire while the aircraft was waiting to depart at Denver’s International Airport in Colorado.

“Everybody saw the smoke, because it kind of filled the back of the cabin,” said passenger Jennifer Rodgers while recalling the incident, CBS News reported. “And then somebody screamed ‘Fire.'”

The chaotic scene as passengers scrambled to evacuate Catherine Rios via ABC

The incident occurred Friday while Rodgers and 107 other passengers were aboard SA Flight 3316, while it was parked at the gate, waiting to fly to Houston, Texas.

According to eyewitnesses, a passenger’s smartphone started smoking, filling the cabin with acrid fumes, and causing a seat to catch fire, CNN reported.

Passengers were subsequently ordered to evacuate with flyers in the front exiting via the jet bridge while those in the rear of the aircraft slid down the emergency chute to safety, as seen in dramatic video footage.

Meanwhile, crew members used a fire extinguisher to douse the flaming sky seat, Fox News reported.

Fly-witness Jaquetta Anderson recounted the chaotic scene.

The phone reportedly started smoking in one of the passenger’s hands. Michal – stock.adobe.com

“There’s nowhere to go, because they were exiting through the back of the plane. And so I kind of got pushed around a little bit,” she said. “People were yelling leave your stuff. But I actually had two dogs with me, and I wasn’t going to leave them.”

Miraculously, only two passengers were hurt during the mad dash: One passenger was reportedly injured during the evacuation while the passenger whose phone ignited the blaze had to be treated for burns on their hand, the airline said in a statement.

The fraught flight touched down three hours later at its destination at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, the incident is currently under investigation, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Unfortunately, batteries, especially lithium ion batteries, have become a scourge in the friendly skies of late.

Last month, plane passengers in China were left fearing for their lives after an airport jet bridge filled with smoke after a faulty power bank caught fire.

Such infernos generally occur when lithium-ion batteries overheat and ignite.

In fact, due to the power bank’s flammability, airlines only allow them to be packed in carry-on luggage, not in checked bags, for fear that they might start fires in the cargo hold.